Pro basketball player Kyrie Irving bought a house for the family of George Floyd, another pricey gift for Floyd’s relatives since he died in police custody in May.
Irving, a guard for the Brooklyn Nets, reportedly gave the family the money to purchase the home about five or six months ago, according to ESPN. The gift was first revealed by Stephen Jackson, a former NBA player and friend of the late Floyd.
“Kyrie Irving bought them a house. Lil Wayne’s manager bought them a Mercedes-Benz. Barbra Streisand gave them stock in Disney,” Jackson said on the latest episode of The Rematch, a podcast hosted by former NBA player Etan Thomas.
On @etanthomas36's podcast, Stephen Jackson revealed that Kyrie Irving (@KyrieIrving) bought a home for George Floyd's family. @DaTrillStak5 also thanked @lilbaby4PF (who paid for Gianna Floyd's birthday party), @BarbraStreisand and more.
FULL EPISODE: https://t.co/b7PS3C4Y6h pic.twitter.com/tHHe2T9Kyy
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) January 18, 2021
In July, Irving donated $1.5 million to WNBA players who opted to sit out the season because of the coronavirus pandemic. Irving’s donation went toward ensuring that players were paid whether they played or not.
Floyd died in police custody after being arrested on Memorial Day. His death ignited riots across the county and calls to “defund” police departments over allegations of systemic racism. The arresting officers in the Floyd case were responding to a call about a man attempting to pass counterfeit currency. During the arrest, one now-fired officer, Derek Chauvin, placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes before Floyd was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead.
An autopsy of Floyd revealed that he had methamphetamines and a potentially lethal amount of fentanyl in his system at the time of the arrest. Chief Hennepin County Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker found “no physical evidence suggesting” that Floyd died from asphyxiation, though he ruled Floyd’s death a homicide, according to court records. As The Daily Wire reported in August:
New court documents have uncovered two memorandums, dated May 26 and June 1, that suggest Chief Hennepin County Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker concluded George Floyd likely died from a fentanyl overdose and found “no physical evidence suggesting” that he died of asphyxiation.
“AB (Andrew Baker) said that if Mr. Floyd had been found dead in his home (or anywhere else) and there were no other contributing factors he would conclude that it was an overdose death,” says a memo dated June 1, outlining a May 31 virtual with Dr. Baker.
The memos seemingly run contrary to the Armed Forces medical examiner and Hennepin County medical examiner’s final conclusion that Floyd’s death was a homicide.
Chauvin, along with three other former officers, were fired from the Minneapolis police department over Floyd’s death. Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The three other ex-officers were each charged with aiding and abetting each crime.
Chauvin is set to stand trial in March after a judge split the trials of Chauvin and the other defendants. As The Daily Wire reports:
Prosecutors argued against holding two trials, while the defense attorneys for at least one former officer, Thomas Lane, said that holding a separate trial for Chauvin would ultimately be better for his own client.
According to The Associated Press: “Legal observers say the change benefits Chauvin’s co-defendants, who will get a preview of what the state’s witnesses will say and more time to prepare. They’ll also blame Chauvin, who won’t be on trial with them to push back.”